2022 Inaugural Girls Invitational Tournament
The last weekend of the April 2022 school holidays saw UWA Nedlands FC (UWANFC) host 18 teams across three youth age groups in the augural Girls Invitational Football Tournament.
The tournament is a product of the UWANFC Female Football Strategy and the shared vision of a strong girl's football program across many like-minded Perth Clubs. Our Technical Director of Youth, Lawrence Lewis, approached clubs known for their strong girls and women's programs earlier in the year, and the standard certainly did not disappoint the near 500 participants.
The tournament catered for three age groups, U12, U14 and U16 and applied the Football West Junior rules delivered under a condensed program. Due to participation constraints driven by Covid-19 infections, only one pool in each age group was set, leading to a short finals program.
UWANFC achieved their target of representing each age group in the finals, with the U12s working hard to take the win from a well-drilled Aubin Grove United FC. Our U14s went down to Fremantle City FC in the finals, while the U16s couldn't hold off a strong Carramar Shamrock Rovers Football Club team. The U14s and U16s teams gave their spectators a fabulous finals spectacle under lights.
An age group Gift race was hosted to support the spirit of fun and participation, with Perth SC taking the even honours. The tight game program meant that only the U16s Gift Race was held.
We will use participant feedback to inform the planning for next year, with 100% of respondents thus far saying that they enjoyed the event and look forward to joining again next year.
We want to acknowledge the contributions of key volunteers for making the tournament a success, driven by Technical Director Lawrence Lewis and the Women's Football Working Group. The event was enabled on the day by parent group volunteers and the State League Women's team. Tournaments such as these happen through the shared efforts of many volunteers, and we thank all for their efforts.
